Forever Fall
by lunatica00
Summary: What is heartache in face of so many love just waiting to be spread? If you look at the right place under certain light, you'll find out that no matter the weight of your loss, you do have friends watching your back. At least, if that's what you want Jaune to feel deep in his bones, maybe you should work on doing the same.


"Oh" there's a folded paper in one of your blazing yellow sport bag's pocket and you instantly know what it is. You just wish there could've been a better moment than this to have discovered it upon searching for your scroll.

"Yang? Is something wrong?" you hear your little sister's inquiry, though you're fairly sure it was more of a little gasp that escaped your mouth just then.

You look back to the full expense of the living room, where everybody was grouped — some sitted on the couches, some on the ground — eating Oscar's casserole. The chatter you hear and the murmurs of _this is soooo gooood_ (from Nora, you think) becomes a distant reminder of happier times, happier people eating together in a giant hall. Your heart constricts in your chest when the ache within you caused by your missing friend becomes almost palpable.

But Ruby's here and she's calling you and there's just no way you're ignoring her ever again.

You look at her and she's looking right back at you, head tilted to one side as if personificating the curiosity you're sure she's feeling right now, with how it's practically rolling from her in waves.

"No, I…" you hesitate, because you all agreed in taking it easy tonight so you could start putting the plan to motion early tomorrow morning, and you don't know if comunal heartache constitutes _taking it easy_. Then, seemingly, you hesitate just a second too long and there are more than just the pair of silver eyes you adore so much observing you.

It starts with the twitch of her ears in your direction, the quickest you've ever seen in this short amount of time you've been reunited, and then her whole body is turned towards yours and she's suddenly meticulously inspecting you from head to toe, as if she can find the smallest hint of what might be bothering you. Residual disappointment and exasperation resurface from a fast flash of memory of your last conversation and it all quirks you in the wrong way.

Then she says, "what is it?" and her voice is so eager and tentative that you can't help but want to cave in, such is the magnitude of the influence she _still_ has over you. You immediately chase it away; it turns out this profound liberation of the mess of feelings inside you ends up manifesting itself as the sigh that leaves your lips.

Sorrowful, worried, very slowly you look at Jaune, who now was innocently talking to Ren and Nora. He's come such a long way… and though you don't know exactly what he's been through during his travel to Haven, thankfully you can only imagine what it's like to lose a partner, even more so one that's been by your side every step of the way since becoming partners. The pain is still so fresh, you don't want to be a living reminder of what your friend has lost.

Yet again you seem to take too long and Nora elbows him, her chin raising to point in your direction, his attention unwantedly being brought to you.

"Yang?"

You bow your head. Now it looks like caution was out the window. You already feel sorry for him.

"I…" you try, the knot in you throat leaving it difficult to continue. You try once more anyway. "I… Pyrrha once asked me to help her with something."

As you slowly cross the room with your head bowed all the time, you can't possibly see the others' reaction, but you hear him crystal clear.

"W-what? What's brought this on?" His voice, clearly as uncertain as you feel treating this delicate soil.

You extend your hand, offering him the piece of folded paper that was the catalyst of this whole thing to begin with.

He unfolded it oh so very carefully, mindful of the cranks much like one would of a little bird's broken wing.

As he takes in the title and the alignment, how the text is constructed, and probably the cursive handwriting as well, a heavy gasp can be heard all across the room, and you feel more than hear how much the sound resembles a pin right as it touches the ground, the sudden noise reverberating through an empty room. You wince.

Before he can ask the question that is sure to follow, you give him a simple explanation. "She asked me to help her write this. Before the dance, specifically. It's… it's for you."

You summon the courage to look at him and sees his eyes glinting, never leaving your own. Suddenly all the questions that have run rampant in your mind when you were still laying in your bed back at Patch, at dad's house, come to the forefront of his eyes and you can read it all too well.

 _… Why?_

 _Why didn't she say anything?_

 _Why now?_

 _Why, why, why, why,_ why _?_

It's too much — he squeezes his eyes shut and tears spill, cascading down his cheeks like the endless, eternal flow of a waterfall.

It's too much — you divert your eyes elsewhere, anywhere else aside from the pain written all over his much too young face. You're all too _yang_ to be dealing with this.

Young - yang.

Dust.

You curse your treacherous mind for betraying you and making puns right now. Great. Just… great.

But then you realise that's exactly why she had asked for your help then, taking opportunity from your proud gusto and shining love for wordplaying.

Desperately you want to take his pain away, make it all better, if not for all of you, then for Pyrrha herself. You will probably, most certainly, regret this later, but you do it anyway. After all, you'd trade looking like a fool over seeing any of your friends hurt again any day.

You take a deep breath and then —

"I'm not Ice Queen over there, but I can sing it to you if you want."

(You don't see it, but you can mentally picture Weiss' eye roll, which you don't have even the slightest doubt happened in the first place.)

Jaune blinks his eyes open, huge pools of tears falling from his eyes, and looks at you, a pondering expression on his face. At this moment, his older sister, Saphron, appears by his side, giving him a much needed hug.

She murmurs something only for him, so you can't catch what it is, but then he adopts a resolved, determined face and gives the unfolded paper back to you.

"Do it." Jaune orders more than tells you of his decision.

Gently, you enclose his wrist with your right hand and push back, saying, "I don't need it. Besides, she would've prefered if you had it."

"Why is this with you anyway?" He asks, suspicious.

You give him a small smile, one you've seen in Blake's face so many times before.

"She didn't want you to find it, so she asked me to keep it for her." You trailed off, but Nora took from right where you left the sentence hanging.

"PYRRHA WROTE JAUNE A SONG AND SHE NEVER SAID ANYTHING?!" Was the sort of yelled addition to the whole thing. "I don't believe this!"

"Nora, sit down." A sigh, and then, "Yang, could you sing it for us?" Ren intervened.

Then you look at them; really, _really_ look at them. Team JNR looked worse for wear — not a _I'm dying_ kind of way, but more of a saudosist resignation that must have taken over the everlasting anguish prompted by the absence of their missing friend in their hearts.

It must be so hard being short of a teammate.

You shudder, barely able to not feel the immense sorrow and sheer fear brought on by that thought alone.

Your team is looking at you, you notice, encouraging little smiles on Weiss and Blake's faces.

Out of the corner of your eye you see Terra, with Adrian on her arms, standing up and closing the distance between her and her wife, Adrian giggling the whole time like he just can't wait for what's to come. She puts a supporting hand on her shoulders with a _go on_ look, directed at you, in her eyes.

Qrow isn't here, preferring, tonight, to keep to himself, but Oscar almost makes up for the two of them with his single clap and the enthusiastic energy exuding from him.

And then —

"YES!" Rubes pumps up her fists in the air with a small jump. "You're gonna love hearing her singing, guys, Yang's got such a lovely voice! Ooooooh, it's been so long since you last sang for me, sis'. I wish you could do that more often again."

You can't help the cocking of your hips, much less the raising of your eyebrow. "Oh, so _now_ you're not all grown up, huh? What happened to that talk?"

"I _miiiiiiiiight_ have made a mistake when I told you I was too old for you to sing to me anymore. How did that saying go anyway? 'Longing makes the heart grow fonder'" Finishes her with a satisfied nod, both hand on either side of her hip.

"Actually, I believe it's 'absence makes the heart grow fonder', dunce." Weiss adds practically.

You see Blake's smirk at the same time you hear your little sis's sustained whine _Weeeeeeiiiisssss_ , and, despite everything, you manage to smile.

Well, now there was no turning back.

"Thanks, sis'! Well… since you're asking so nicely, I guess…"

Jaune's already looking at you when you turn to him. He seems surprised when you offer him your hand, and, as you open your mouth to let the first words come off, despite waiting for it, he looks shell shocked.

" _I've been watchin' you lately,_

 _chasing your tail, and it drives me crazy"_

He seems to understand what the tug in his hands means; then, he folds the paper and puts it in his back pocket. Standing, he stops in front of you.

" _You'll never get that girl_ "

Jaune shakes his head and you do the same, knowing that everyone knew who Pyrrha was referring to.

It's been so long since then, so much has happened… how can you go back to being as happy as you all were then?

" _She don't see in you the things that I can see"_

But… _maybe_ … maybe you could make a new normal, and learn to be as happy as you can be now, all of you. And with that thought, you spin Jaune and just let go.

" _That girl's ice cold and it ain't meant to be_ "

You hear an indignant scoff, probably from the Ice Queen herself.

" _Look at every land and port in the world_

 _I've been spending time wondering why,_

 _nothing that I do can catch your eye,_

 _just can't capture your attention_ "

Jaune dips his head then, almost looking desolated. You take his chin with your hand and raise it again, making him look deep in your eyes.

As you go back to singing once again, you position your other hand, the left, in the small of his back, and the remaining one, which you had just used to lift his face, clasps his. Then you're leading this dance.

Somewhere to your left you hear some of them clapping their hands to the _tempo_ of the song.

" _Maybe I'm too tall or not your type_

 _but I'm not giving up, I'll get it right,_

 _being close to you is my intention_ "

Then you drop the note, hugging him just that little bit tighter to you. You close your eyes; maybe, if you try hard enough, the person in front of you will have electric amber eyes instead of those big baby blues, and a long, flowy ebony hair. Your hand will be around a slender waist and the chest connected to yours won't be so flat.

" _I see more in you than the rest of them do,_

 _and I'm not gonna let you fall_

 _I'll swallow my pride, time after time_ "

And swallow you did, risking it once again to have her near your side. It's sad, but it's true — deep inside you knew this was just another chance to let her just destroy your pride. Suddenly you don't feel as reliable to Jaune anymore. Blake's just… she's a path that the longer you _insist_ on traveling, the more it left you defeated, the realization that you're probably just waiting until the inevitable time she has to go away once again comes; the notion that you're just repeating your past mistakes all over again, yet feeling incapable, powerless to do anything but — with her, at least — comes crashing down on you.

And the damage? It's _unimaginable_.

It's always been her.

" _'Cause you're worth it all_ ", and if your voice quivers a bit on the _worth_ , you think the sustained high last note helps hiding it a bit.

You and Jaune are still dancing, so when he raises your hung head from his chest, where it had come to rest, with a genuine smile on his face, you appreciate it enormously. It's almost as if life had been breathed into you again.

You're not alone.

And neither is Jaune. He never, never has been and never will be (if Pyrrha's got any say in this).

" _Whenever I think of you,_

 _how I wish you only knew_

 _That you might be my dream come true,_

 _but what do I have to do to make you notice me?_ "

The note drops again at the end and you prepare for the best part of the song, you think. Of course, it's where Weiss is being teased the most, after all.

" _Oh, you know that_

 _you and I, we would be alright_

 _we could dance on the roof, we could light the night_

 _Gotta make you see me in that way_ "

You look sheepish into Jaune's eyes, only hoping he doesn't feel _too_ bad about this.

" _Why don't you_

 _forget about that little chick in white_

 _she don't care about you and she's so uptight!_ "

And exactly where you should impersonate one of Weiss' signature _hey!_ she does just that, and seems exasperated a second later when she notices that both of your voices overlap, your imitation being a hundred per cent faithful to the original. Beside you, you hear Blake's chuckle and Rubes' _don't worry, Weiss. I think you're just fine!_

Unfortunately you don't get to see the eye roll you're sure follows next.

" _Let me put a smile on your face_ "

And you smile to him, expecting to retribute the favor before your stomach turns to lead and you swallow the lump in your throat.

You spin him again and when you catch him, you hug him tight **,** wishing you could be able to minimize this blow as much as possible.

" _How I wish that you knew that I'm crazy for you,_

 _when I'm with you time just flies_

 _I'll get you alone, make you my own_

 _It'll be divine_ "

It doesn't matter how tight you're hugging him now, how much you wish to alleviate some of his sorrow, you still feel him tensing in your arms; you still feel the warm tears on your head.

Then, remembering all those afternoons spent on coming with a cool base for the song, an instrumental that would carry it like the smooth and energetic tune it was, it comes to your mind like it was actually just yesterday the two of you were acting like two idiots personificating string instruments.

And if there was the slightest chance to make Jaune laugh, you'd quickly take it.

(So that's what you did.)

You hear a few laughs across the room as you move with Jaune around trying to imitate the notes of the solo with your voice only.

(Jaune didn't laugh, but he _did_ smile a watery smile and you were just as proud of him for that.)

" _I can keep on waiting,_

 _'cause my heart I've been saving_

 _I think you're gonna figure it out_

 _I'm the one for you and there's no one else_ "

You drop the intensity of your voice, as well as the note, letting it become as serene as you could get it to be when you're getting emotional again.

" _Whenever I think of you,_

 _Oh how I wish you only knew_

 _That you might be my dream come true_ "

Before taking a breath to raise the notes and the intensity, you sustain the last word just a little bit more.

" _What do I have to do to make you my baby?_ ", you prolong the sound of the last note once more and continues —

" _Whenever I think of you_ "

The next verse is very high and you've got to take in a breath first, again.

" _(Oh whenever I think of you)_ "

You drop the notes for the next two words.

" _Only knew_ "

And it's rushed, this next verse.

" _(Oh how I wish you knew that I'm in love with you)_

 _Dream come true_

 _What do I have to do to make you notice?_ "

But so is this next paragraph, and you give it your all, knowing it was Pyrrha's favorite part.

" _It's gonna be you for me and me for you,_

 _We're gonna shine a light and make a dream come true_

 _Gotta get it right while we got the time_

 _I'm gonna win your heart,_

 _I'm gonna make you mine_

 _Come on, come on_ "

In this following part the rhythm is rushed once again, so you do just that.

" _Come on, come on, come on now, baby_ "

Then, it's low once more and the song is finishing —

" _But what do I have to do to make you notice me?_ "

You quickly take a breath.

" _Notice me_ ", you're not used to singing anymore, not for a very long time at least, so your lungs are a little bit on fire when you sustain the _me_ , but the last verse still remains and you'll be damned if you don't finish it just right.

" _Notice me_ ", and this time it's not only the _me_ you prolong, but also the _no_ in _notice_ a little bit and then you're done.

You finish the song and Jaune encircles you with his arms. His hug is not so warm, as you can feel the erratic heartbeat on his chest and surely picture the great deal of ache each one was pumping to his bloodstream. In your ear, he whispers —

"Thank you, Yang", then he's tightening it even more and you don't know what to do. But he helps you. Jaune takes a step back and then you can see his crushed expression, the tears free falling from his eyes. You make the motion as if to take one step in his direction again, but he doesn't let you.

"N-no, it's ok, don't worry. I'll just go —", he says without much of the animation he shows, pointing to the door that leads to the Cotta-Arc's outside space. "— there", even when he sighs, you think it looks painful (or maybe that's your own pain-filled perception being projected), "for a bit. Yeah, I'll just do that. See you later, guys."

And with that clear dismissal, expressed desire to not be followed, he's passing through the door while Nora tries a _Jaune_ before the door closes and we're without team JNR's leader in the room. You look around to gauge your friends and acquaintances' reactions, but you see that none of them looks resentful, so you relax only a little bit. You apologize anyway.

"I'm sorry for this. I…", surprisingly, or maybe not so much, who replies to you is Ren, whose calmness wash over you in tidal waves, bit by bit taking the guilt that rooted itself in your heart throughout this little stunt you pulled.

"Do not worry, Yang. We needed this as much as Jaune, and he knows this just as well. Please, don't beat yourself up for bringing up memories of Pyrrha. It's about time we start remembering her with all the joy she once brought us."

"No, yeah, you're right. It's just — I worry for you guys and I miss her so —", a quiet sob make its way through your throat, " _so_ much."

You hear more than see the rustling your friends are making since you're covering your eyes with your hand, but the next thing you feel is a bunch of arms hugging you and you admittedly laugh a watery laugh.

"We _all_ do", Weiss says quietly beside you, her thin arms hugging you as tight as she can and you're reciprocating even before you know what you're doing.

The rest of the night constitutes of Ruby's pleased cries of _you did it, sis'! I told you she was the best!_ and Nora's _we_ gotta _do karaoke one day!_ and Blake's surprised, yet marvelled face.

Ugh.

You know you two have _got_ to deal with it sooner or later, but you don't feel as inclined to do it anymore. You're still too disappointed, too hurt that she thinks less of you now, that you're just another thing hindering her, to talk to her again about, well, everything that's happened before. Your pride took the brunch that time and you don't feel particularly eager to find out what is the next in line.

So you don't. You don't deal with any of it and just let things be.

When you all lie in the living room ready to sleep, you stay awake thinking about everything. Pyrrha the most.

But, much like any other night, you think about your dad and how he's doing. About Raven and how you wish you just didn't care. About Blake.

You don't even notice when your breathing evens out. It's with half a mind you hear the whispered _Yang?_ , which you don't know who uttered, but refuses to reply either way. By now you just want to rest.

 _Are you awake?_ The same person, you guess, continues. Dream's realm is already claiming you and you think how much that melodious voice seems so much like Blake's and how you wished she would come closer so you could wrap your arms around her, never to let anything short of happiness get to her.

You stubborn has one foot planted on the moment, if not for curiosity, then just for hope's sake, that this was real and it _was_ Blake reaching out to you.

A muted sigh barely comes to your ear, but it doesn't escape your senses in this otherwise very soundless night. Then, someone, as noiseless as a leaf that extricates itself from a tree branch and spiral down its own way, starts —

" _I can keep on waiting_

 _'cause my heart I've been saving_

 _I think you're gonna figure it out_

 _I'm the one for you and there's no one else —_

 _Whenever I think of you_

 _(Oh whenever I think of you)_

 _Only knew_

 _(Oh how I wish you knew that I'm in love with you)_

 _Dream come true_ "

Your conscience is slowly fading away, but you know the next verse, so you're low key surprised when it deviates from your expectancy and turns out to be —

" _But what do I have to do to make you my baby?_ "

Sleep gets to you and the next day you _still_ can remember the feeling of her in your oniric arms, the two of you dancing the night away instead of getting just one dance in Beacon's hall.

(Later in the morning, you end up not regretting having sung Pyrrha's Dream Come True _at all_.)

And when you catch her beautiful, electric amber eyes already watching you, you feel like, perhaps, your own dream may not be so far away from becoming reality.


End file.
